Lodge History
VENTURE ADVENTURE LODGE No 6022 - 75th ANNIVERSARY
Before I start, I must express my thanks to WBro David Noyce for allowing me to base this short oration on a paper he wrote some 5 years ago about the foundation of the Lodge.
Nineteen forty-four was an eventful year for war-torn Britain. June had seen the costly but successful D-Day landings and the Axis forces were in retreat on both the western and eastern fronts. An indication of confidence in eventual victory was the disbandment of the Home Guard on 3 December that year. There were set backs too, of course: there was the costly failure of Operation Market Garden and, on Monday 27November, a massive munitions explosion involving 3.5 to 4,000 tons of high explosives and other ammunition occurred at RAF Fauld in Staffordshire, still to this day the largest explosion ever to have happened in England.
The mood of optimism that was growing throughout the nation was shared by the brethren of Royal Standard Lodge No 1298 who were celebrating their 75th anniversary in 1944. Having been founded by and for officers of the Royal Navy and the Army, Royal Standard had a strong military tradition. So, when the brethren decided to sponsor a new lodge, they looked to the Royal Air Force as a way of recognising the then comparatively new service.
It was thought that the founders of our Lodge had asked permission from the Air Force Board to name the new lodge as the Royal Air Force Lodge but, as this was denied, they turned instead to the Air Training Corps, which had been established the previous year, and instead adopted the Corps' motto "Venture Adventure". However, having read an article in "The Freemasons' Chronicle" magazine describing in great detail the consecration of the lodge, it looks as if the naming was deliberate and not a substitute. According to the article, the name Venture Adventure was "...intended to recall the association of the Founders with the Air Training Corps.... and it reflects...most appositely the resolute enthusiasm with which they have entered upon their undertaking and the hopes they have for its success in bringing to their task of the training of youth...". The Article mentions that the Founders are "…all connected with the RAF and the training of youths to join them.". Moreover, members of the ATC were among the 32 Founders and, at the consecration, it was announced that 3 applications for initiation had been received, all from members of the ATC. Therefore, there is a possibility that Venture Adventure was the intended name of the new lodge.
And so it was that, on Friday 1 December 1944 the Founders gathered here at Freemasons' Hall for the consecration which was carried out by the Assistant Grand Master, RWBro Brigadier WHV Darell and many of his Grand Officers. All those attending who were serving Armed Forces officers wore dress uniforms giving the ceremony a strikingly military character. The RAF dominated, of course, but all 3 Services were represented. At the following luncheon other RAF lodges were singled out as being places where the members of the new lodge would be assured of a warm welcome: these included the first ever RAF lodge, Ad Astra No 3808, founded in London in 1918, along with Daedalus No 3843 in Stafford, Mercury No 5481 in Farnborough, Hermes No 5532 in Fareham and Pegasus No 5637 in Aylesbury.
The Lodge started as a lodge for officers of the RAF, RAFVR and RAFVR(T) and remained so until the early 1990s, the only early exception being WBro David Dibble our senior member who, happily, is still with us and here today.* His father, WBro Flt Lt HW Dibble, being a Founder member of Venture Adventure, WBro David is, I believe, our last remaining link to the founding of the Lodge.
During the consecration ceremony, the Chaplain, the Reverend S. Goddard Feakle, spoke of the importance of the work of both the RAF and the ATC, but warned against the seductions of power. His address opened with a passage from Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”, and closed with a simple blessing – “May the Great Architect prosper your Lodge, and make it a mighty instrument for good for many years to come!”. I would say that that prayer has been fulsomely granted. May it continue to prosper and do good for masonry and for all for the next 75 years.
WBro Wg Cdr Graham Pattenden PAGSwdB, SLGR, PProvGReg (Midd'x)
* WBro David Dibble sadly passed away in 2024.